The TeamMBA program is celebrating its second year by opening its doors to the community.

The two-year master’s degree program, offered through the North Georgia College & State University’s Mike Cottrel School of Business, welcomed its second group of students last month.

But they’re not wasting time in recruiting a third group, beginning with monthly open houses.

“We’re ready to step it up a little bit,” said John Douglas, program director. “We had people that have expressed an interest in it already for next year and so we’re going to ... allow people to come in and see the facility and understand better about what’s involved and what they need to do to prepare."

Beginning Oct. 13, the TeamMBA program, whose classes meet at Cumming City Hall, will hold monthly open house events from 5 to 6:30 p.m. the second Tuesday of each month.

The events will let potential students see the classroom space, technology and meeting facilities in the center.

Applications for the August 2010 school year are being accepted. Classes are geared toward working professionals, as well as those who just recently completed their undergraduate degrees.

Classes are offered twice weekly, with 25 first-year students on a Monday/Wednesday schedule and 24 second-year students on a Tuesday/Thursday schedule.

Douglas said the third class will accept about 30 students.

“We’re just really pleased with the groups,” he said. “They seem to be coming together well as far as unity on the teams and they are beginning to show the signs of informal leadership and networking.”

Cumming Mayor H. Ford Gravitt said he is excited about the program’s success. He’s also hopeful about the future of secondary education in

Forsyth. The city plans to open a satellite North Georgia campus on Pilgrim Mill Road.  

“It’s helped out a lot of people who wanted to get a [master’s] degree in business,” he said. “It also gave the city a sense of prominence because we’ve been working on higher education, not just for business, but for all areas of higher education.

“To be a well-rounded community, you’ve got to have higher education and we’re still working on it.”